The relationship between intention to leave the hospital and coping methods of emergency nurses after workplace violence

Abstract

Aims and objectives: To identify the relationship between emergency nurses' intention to leave the hospital and their coping methods following workplace violence.

Background: Emergency departments report a high prevalence of workplace violence, with nurses being at particular risk of violence from patients and patients' relatives. Violence negatively influences nurses' personal and professional lives and increases their turnover.

Design: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive survey study.

Methods: Participants were nurses (n = 214) with over one year of experience of working in an emergency department. We measured workplace violence, coping after workplace violence experiences and job satisfaction using scales validated through a preliminary survey. Questionnaires were distributed to all nurses who signed informed consent forms. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to identify the relationships between nurses' intention to leave the hospital and their coping methods after workplace violence.

Results: Verbal abuse was the most frequent violence experience and more often originated from patients' relatives than from patients. Of the nurses who experienced violence, 61.0% considered leaving the hospital. As for coping, nurses who employed problem-focused coping most frequently sought to identify the problems that cause violence, while nurses who employed emotion-focused coping primarily attempted to endure the situation. The multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that female sex, emotion-focused coping and job satisfaction were significantly related to emergency nurses' intention to leave.

Conclusions: Emotion-focused coping seems to have a stronger effect on intention to leave after experiencing violence than does job satisfaction.

Relevance to clinical practice: Nurse managers should begin providing emergency nurses with useful information to guide their management of violence experiences. Nurse managers should also encourage nurses to report violent experiences to the administrative department rather than resorting to emotion-focused coping. Nurses should be provided with the opportunity to communicate their feelings to their colleagues.

Keywords: coping; emergency department; nurses; workplace violence.